


we're not too close

by tyah



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Fake Dating, Mutual Pining, and Old Lace as a dog, or pride, slightly influenced by tatbilb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-02 09:23:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15793662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyah/pseuds/tyah
Summary: “I’m not joking. I really need your help to get my grade up,” Chase stands in front of her. She’s changed a lot, her clothes and her hair but her presence is still exactly the same.“It’s you or no one else.”





	1. Chapter 1

 It takes her a while to wake up. Gert knows she has to get up, but that would mean she would have to leave the comfort of her bed and the dream was having was just getting to the good part. She was on a podium talking, no addressing a very large audience of people. They weren’t real, obviously given the fact that this crowd didn’t mind that she was dressed in her pyjamas or that her hair was dyed a rich, deep purple. But they were still visibly impressed on her long monologue on the impacts of globalisation on overseas countries.

Her alarm vibrating next to her just ends up sounding like the applause the dream dignitaries are giving her, and Gert soaks it up willingly because when in this ever going to happen again.

“Get up!” A voice yells and a small body lands on top of her.

“Ow!”

She knows its Molly before she hears the giggling.

Gert groans, burying her head in the soft pillows and then rolling over. She gives Molly the blankest stare she could muster.

“Why?”

“You have to get up. You’re driving us to school today.” Molly says, already dressed and as perky as ever. That does make her smile though.

“I am?” Gert sits up slowly, rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes. She retrieved her phone from the bedside table, turning off the alarm and putting her glasses on.

Molly nods, her dark curly hair isn’t tied up, so it shakes with her movements. “Yeah. Dale is taking Stacy to her lecture up at the university.”

While most kids her age would take themselves to and from school. Dale and Stacy Yorkes insisted that they drive Gert and Molly to and from school. It allowed for quality time between them all since both their jobs as leading scientists were quite demanding.

Gert feels herself dropping off again, but Molly puts a stop to it and pushes her hard, caught by surprise her head rattles but against the headboard.

“Okay, okay. I’m awake.” Gert says, fixing her glasses.

“Just checking.”

“Yeah right.”

She flings the covers off her legs and slips out of the bed, starting for the small bathroom that was connected to her bedroom. Her foot gets caught in a stray t-shirt that’s lying on the floor. “Lemme get ready and then we can go.”

“Can we stop by the Juice shop and get smoothies before school?” Molly shouts, her voice carrying through the air and into the bathroom.

“No. You know how long the line always is. It’s always busy. We’ll be late.” Gert answers over the sound of the spray. Everyone from Atlas went there, it was a hangout spot and Gert didn’t really want to hang out with them for more time than she had to. Even if at the mentioning of it she begins to have craving for a banana smoothie. “Didn’t Stacy make something?”

“She is,” Molly says, nose wrinkling, present tense which means that she was still here, and that’s all but her tone sounds like whatever it is waiting for them downstairs isn’t pleasant or loaded with sugar.  

With the dog hot on their heels, Gert and Molly hustled downstairs once Gert was dressed. Stacy was rushing past behind the kitchen island while something was steaming on top of the stove. There was no sign of Dale anywhere.

“Oatmeal?”

Molly just rolls her eyes.

Stacy pops up from behind the counter, the glasses on top of her red curls almost close to sliding down the back of her head. She smiles widely as they sit down in front of her.

“Good morning, and Gert I’m glad you could finally join us.” She jokes and Gert salutes at her, making Molly laugh quietly while the dog sniffs at her feet before settling by Gert’s stool. “So, I’m leaving soon, Molly your sister is going to drive to school and will pick you up after dance practice today. Dad’s is going to be home a little later because he’s going downtown for a meeting.”

“You’re going to a seminar at Westpoint for a week. I think we’ll survive, Mom.”

“We’re completely capable,” Molly adds as convincingly as she can.

“Mm-hm.”

The dog barks in agreement.

“See. Lace knows.”

Stacy eyes them and takes the pot off the stove, she plops the oatmeal into bowls in front of them ignoring the disgust on their faces.

“I know that because we raised two brilliant girls.” She says the smile hadn’t dropped from her face. “But don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m always just a phone call away.”  

“Gotta love modern technology.” Gert sasses and Stacy nodded triumphantly. She starts prattling on about the important phone numbers, chores and not letting Lace stay out too long in the backyard to avoid another Lace vs the chicken’s incident. Gert and Molly nod along, which is no easy feat since Stacy has more energy in the mornings than both of them combined.

“Sweetheart. If we don’t leave now we’re going to be late.” Dale pops his head in through the door, eyes bright. “Morning Gert. Nice of you to join us.”

“You know the more you guys use that line, it just weakens its impact,” Gert says dryly.

They get up and round the table for tight hugs and goodbyes even though she’s only going to be gone for seven days.

“Mom, can you take some flyers and maybe get some of the students to sign my petition,” Gert asks before she forgets as she slings her backpack over her shoulder. “All the information is on there.”

“Yeah, yeah sure.” Stacy takes the posters Gert thrusts enthusiastically into her hand. She flips the sheet over once and then twice in one hand distractedly about to head out the door. “What is this for again?”

“To stop the closing of the community centre, you know the one by the Gonzalez bodega downtown,”

Molly is grateful for her sisters’ crusade for change, not only because she loved hanging out at the community centre too but because it’s also the perfect distraction. She feeds the oatmeal to Old Lace behind the breakfast bar.

“Oh of course honey! Happy to help.” Stacy nods.

“Great. Thanks.” Gert says, appreciatively. “Come on, Molly lets go.”

“Oh, Gert. Your meds are-”

“I know Mom,” Gert pats the side of her backpack. If she ever forgot about them her mother was always there reminding her, she had been better about it lately and while it was sweet that she cared to get a not-so-gentle reminder text to take her medication was also bordering on the edge of suffocating.

…

The day goes by pretty fast, it’s almost so unforgettable that Gert wishes that she can go home already.

“Do you think if we left they’d notice,” Alex asks at lunch, they’re sat outside on one of the many tables in the courtyard, protected from the heat from the midday sun by a huge orange parasol attached to the middle of the table.

Gert looks up from her half-eaten turkey sandwich and regards at the couple in front of them.

Nico and Karolina are sitting across from them at the lunch table, whispering and giggling like they’re the only two people in the world, which to Nico and Karolina was usually the case most of the time.

“No,” Gert smirks, then whispers conspiratorially to him but make sure they can hear her too, “but Nico won’t survive without a little bit of snark in her life, so I’d say we’re okay.”

Alex laughs at her joke and its loud enough to break them out of their conversation.

Nico turns away from Karolina but they’re holding hands on top of the table. Nico and Karolina started dating halfway through last year. Everyone in their group knew that Karolina had a crush on Nico since forever, while she supported Gert had been slightly anxious about the whole thing, she didn’t like change, dreaded it. What if it didn’t work out? What if it did and then they broke up and it just became incredibly awkward between them all?

It turned out the opposite because they were still going strong.

“Hey, I resent that,” Nico says scowling, her black lipstick contrasting against her white teeth.

“Aw, that’s okay. I still love your snark.”

Gert laughs, and they fall back into an easy conversation, after a while Gert wonders where Molly is when they sometimes eat lunch together unless she’s with her friends from the dance team, but she doesn’t see the familiar white, blue and yellow uniforms anywhere in the courtyard.

Alex is swatting her hand away, stopping her from stealing his fries when Chase and Eiffel enter the courtyard, they’re fighting but they’re always making a show of themselves, the popular kids that is striding around campus like they owned the place because in a way they did. Especially, the jocks, they had a monopoly on the Atlas because the institution was sports obsessed.

Gert had a long-standing silent protest since she had started here that until they updated the textbooks for history class she would not attend a single game. It had been two years.

The pair stop by the vending machines instead of sitting down immediately at the back tables where all their friends hang out.

“What’s that about?” Gert says out loud and then curses inwardly. She doesn’t care about what Chase Stein does, they haven’t been friends for ages. She sits in front of him in Spanish class and they share homeroom with Nico.

“I don’t know. I can’t read lips.” Alex stuffs a few fries into his mouth but looks anyway. He can’t stand Chase. Ever since they started high school. Before that, they all use to be friends but now Chase plays lacrosse. 

“It doesn’t look good,” Karolina mutters over her shoulder in concern and it’s genuine, anyone who knows Karolina knows that about her. She’s caring to a fault, it doesn’t matter who the person is. Now Eiffel is moving her hands about and Chase is just standing there. Gert can’t tell if he’s bored or if he’s just about to give into whatever it is that she wants.

“Does it ever?” Nico speaks up, she doesn’t even look at them. “That was always a car crash waiting to happen.”

Whatever they’re mad about it stops suddenly, Eiffel rolls her eyes and shakes her head and then she stalks off in the opposite direction. Chase stands there for a moment, still with his fists clenched at his sides, then he punches the vending machine hard before walking away.

…

Molly’s late.

It’s after school and Gert is waiting patiently on the bleachers for Molly to finish dance practice. Normally she would sit in the library or hang out behind the auditorium since Alex and the AV club have some special privileges with the access. They all tease him about how uncool it is but she’s grateful that he lets them sneak in there whenever they want to.

The dance team are still running their drills even though practice should have ended twenty minutes ago. Gert’s not sure why and she has half a mind to go over there and tell Eiffel that there are more important things than the perfect eight-count but then she thinks better of it. She doesn’t want to make things harder for Molly either.

She spots Toby when she looks up from her book and ducks her head to hide her grin. He’s putting up posters below her on the concrete wall, he hadn’t noticed she was there yet but the butterflies in her stomach are relentless at this point.

She’s figuring out what to say in her head when he must have finally noticed her. 

“Hey, Gert.” He greets, and she can’t help the smile that makes its way across her face when he approaches.

“Waiting for Molly. She’s on the dance team, practising dance. Obviously,” She whispers the last part, slightly embarrassed that’s all she could come up with. “What are you doing out here alone? Haven’t got anything better to do?”

He gives her a confused expression and she just realises that she just sort of insulted him. Gert shakes her head at the way that sounded, fumbling for words like she always was around him and gestures vaguely to the posters in his arms.

“Oh,” he scratches the back of his head and looks down at the rolled-up papers in his arms. “My band is starting to play some live gigs. I’m putting the word out.”

Her brows draw together in some recognition, he’s always carrying a guitar around. It made sense that he was in a band, he seemed like the type. “That’s great.”

“Yeah, we are first alternate after the house band but it’s still a big deal.” He says, slipping his hands into the front pockets of his washed-out jeans. “You should see us sometime.” He offers, and she feels her heart flutter.

She manages to choke out something that sounds like an affirmative.

“Cool,” He laughs a little and looks around, backing down the steps. “Well see ya.”

“Not if I see you first,” She replies quickly, her voice is so light it almost sounds like she’s singing. Once he’s out of sight she smacks herself on the forehead, her palm makes an audible thwacking sound, but she doesn’t care.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, God…Molly, you scared me,” Gert puts her hand over her chest to calm herself, the sudden presence of her sister coming as a shock. She didn’t even notice that practice was over. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” Molly puts a hand on her hip and her eyes are twinkling like she’s about to laugh.

She stands up, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. “Not one word.”

…

Chase looks down at the phone, defeated and curses under his breath as he reads over the results for a second time.

Spanish – C

He didn’t know what was worse the fact that he failed the midterm or that he had studied for the exam only to do so badly. The grade might be an acceptable pass in most people eyes but at the end of it all a C was average and there was no way that Victor Stein would accept a C.

Chase didn’t care what he had to do he would get this grade up or, well, he didn’t want to think about the other option. There could not be another outcome.

He had to finally admit that he was struggling. He had the time to put more effort into his schoolwork now that he didn’t have to deal with Eiffel’s bullshit anymore.

“I'm just saying if there's any way you can find it in your heart, just to reconsider this grade,” Chase catches him before he’s about to go into the teachers’ lounge.

“I don't grade with my heart,” Senor Walter says without much sympathy. “I use my head and a red pen. But in the case of your test, I might've needed two.”

“Oh, sick burn, Senor Walter! Much respect!” Chase says, winning smile and all. It usually works every time and in combination with being captain of the lacrosse team makes life on campus easier for him than most people, but the teacher doesn’t budge. “Sir, look, I know I've been messing up. I want to change. I just need a little help. I could do a project for extra credit –”

They stop at the door, other students and staff walk around them. “Try studying next time.”

“Sir, please, I can't get a C. Just, please. I’ll do anything.” Chase pleads at the same time he turns to leave. He hates how desperate he sounds right now but something in Senor Walter’s eyes shifts and he looks completive.

“There is something you can do,” he says after a pause and Chase represses the urge to jump for joy. “It will get you caught up with the rest of the class, but you have to be dedicated. No slacking off.”

“You name it.”  

“Tutoring but you’ll have to work around her schedule. She’s my best student.”

“Great. Great, of course. You won’t regret this, sir.”

…

“I’ve got tutoring for Spanish this afternoon. Can you feed the pets when you get home?”

“You’re still doing that?” Nico asks, she’s resting her back on the lockers. Molly is texting on her phone next to her.

“It looks good on college apps,” Gert shrugs, her head still in her locker. “You know you could always sign up. Smith is always looking for new tutors.”

“Nah, that sounds more like something Amy would do.” Nico turns to her, rejecting the idea. “Someone has to be around to drive her crazy.”

“Alright.” Molly scuffs her trainers across the ground, finally answering her and then perks up, a thought pops into her brain. “Oh, can I walk Lace too?”

“I took care of that this morning,” Gert says and closes her locker, giving her the big sister look. “You can’t handle her.”

“You never give me a chance. You always say that I can’t handle her.” Molly whines.

“Because it’s true.”

“Um no,” Molly replies, trying to plead her case.

“Actually, yeah. It’s really freaky. They have this weird tele-whatever connection.” Nico says, picking at the black paint coating her nails.

Molly glances between them, shaking her head but tells Gert not to worry before she heads over to the pick-up circle. Nico tells her goodbye soon after and then Gert is on her way to the library. She told her new student in the email that they could meet there this afternoon to get started, they had a lot to go through according to the outline that she had to write up from what Senor Walter had told her. This would take longer than most.

When she reaches She had booked one of the private study rooms, sometimes students were more comfortable there. What she doesn’t expect to see is Chase Stein sitting at the table waiting for her.

“Chase? Wha… You can’t be in here I have a student coming soon,” She says slowly, jutting her thumb over her shoulder.

“I’m your student,” He states like it’s the most obvious thing in the world and it’s her that needs to be tutored. 

“You need tutoring for Spanish?”

“Yes.”

He has the audacity to smirk at her. Typical Chase.

“You can’t be serious.” Gert says in disbelief. Chase was never that interested in schoolwork, even when they were kids and once he became interested in sports then she just assumed that he would have been picked up for some kind of scholarship or something.

“No. It’s all been set up I’ve been assigned to you by Senor Walter,” Chase reaches inside his backpack that’s sitting on the table and stuffs his hand in the back pocket, rummaging around the space until he retrieves the green slip and passes it over to her.

Gert checks it even flipping the paper over to confirm its legitimacy.

Chase clears his throat. “You gonna hold it up to the light next?”

She drops her arms but is still holding onto the paper. She purses her lips. “Funny.”

He notices Gert still hasn’t sat down and he can tell that she’s hesitant. He should have expected that when he first saw her. It was a shock to him too that she was going to be his tutor, but they needed to make this work.

“I’m not joking. I really need your help to get my grade up,” Chase stands in front of her. She’s changed a lot, her clothes and her hair but her presence is still exactly the same. “It’s you or no one else.”

Gert is silent, and Chase remembers that her not speaking at all is much worse than her ranting. She actually she looks like she’s about to bail on him. He wouldn’t exactly blame her if she did which was why when she speaks he’s pleasantly surprised.

“Let’s just get started.” Gert closes the door behind her.

…

The next few days tutoring Chase go by surprisingly well it’s almost as if they hadn’t spent two years not being in each other’s lives. It helped that Chase wanted to do well too. They’re standing in the courtyard finishing up their latest session at his request. He had lacrosse practice right after this it was much closer to take the journey from here than all the way from the library.

“So, I won’t be able to meet you for tutoring tomorrow,” Gert says while he’s finishing up a worksheet she made for him.

Chase’s head snaps up at that and he stops writing. “Why not?”

“My mom’s coming back from her conference so we’re all gonna go out and have dinner,” Gert tells him, her tone slightly irritated. Her parents were always springing things on her last minute.

“Cool. How are the Dr’s Yorkes?” He asks and puts his pen down with a grin. He hands her the worksheet and they start packing up their work. “I always thought that they were so cool.”

“You did?” she chuckles.

“Yeah, I mean come on, breakthrough research, their own lab downtown.”

“I guess they are pretty cool,” Gert says, smiling. “But what about your dad?”

“They’re not like him.” Is all Chase says and sits up straighter. “Have fun with them tonight.”

“Don’t worry we can reschedule for Saturday. We can go over past exams.” She gathers up his papers and puts them into her bag when she sees Toby walking their way.

He’s looking right at her. She didn’t want a repeat of their last conversation if you could even call it that. Gert could only blame the next series of events on very, very poor timing and her fear of confrontation.

As he’s turning to leave Gert grabs Chase by the shoulder, his brows rise in question and he opens his mouth most likely to ask what the hell is she about to do?

But she doesn’t answer him or speak at all. Gert kisses him right there, in the middle of campus, with everyone watching.

The first thing she thinks is that why didn’t she just run away? How is kissing the boy she’s teaching Spanish to going to help her situation. Isn’t this an abuse of power? The whole student/teacher thing was weird, even if they were the same age, right?  But then Chase is kissing her back a few seconds into it. Her heart is still hammering out of her chest hand when she pulls back.

“Thank you?” He looks at her, his face a mixture of shock and amusement and pulls his lower lip into his mouth

“You’re welcome,” Gert says curtly, straightening out the wrinkles in his shirt and then running the hell out of there. “Um, bye.”

…

 

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part two for those who asked :) and thank you for the comments.

As much as Gert had hoped on the drive over to the restaurant from their house this afternoon isn’t enough Sabich in the world that would be able to fix her current mood. She’s barely touched her plate since it had been placed in front of her and just nods along at every other word her Mom, Dad or Molly says.

It annoys her that her mother’s been gone for a week and she can’t even enjoy it, she might have been said that she wasn’t looking forward to this evening, but she really did miss her.

She kissed Chase this afternoon.

She kissed him in front of Toby as well as the entire school.

There was no way she could walk back into school on Monday and act normal. Well, the kissing wasn’t foreign territory with Chase. It had happened only once, years ago, when they all used to hang out as a group, Alex and Karolina and Nico and a few of Chase’s friends he’d bring from when he had just started playing sports and became more athletic.

She hates that she still remembers it, but she does. At Karolina’s eleventh birthday party, Chase Stein was her first kiss and even though she lived to give him a hard time more often than not she couldn’t keep the small grin off her for at least a week after it happened.

It was after the party was over and everyone else had already been picked by their parents. They sat together outside under the sun, in the beautifully manicured backyard on the steps waiting.

She was playing with the ends of her then, long brown hair, when he had asked her.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Do you ever think of changing something about yourself?”

Chase bit his lip. “Sometimes I wish I was bigger.”

“Bigger?”

“Yeah,” Chase admitted and then nodded for good measure. “If I was bigger then maybe coach would move from midfield to attack. Then maybe my dad would come to my games. What about you?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking about doing something different with my hair.” She said turning to him and stopped fussing with the long braid she had done that morning.

“I like your hair.” Chase had said quickly.

“Thanks,” Gert said, ducking her head to hide her smile and her hair did a good job of covering it. Or at least she hoped that it did. “I do too but it’s so long and I was thinking about a change.”

“What kind of change?”

“I’m not sure but something drastic, and you know striking. Like when the first thing that people notice about a person when they enter the room.” She decided because no one ever really noticed her like they did everyone else.  “I could cut my hair really short maybe or highlights or something. Molly says that-”

That was when he leaned forward and placed his lips on hers, it lasted only for a few seconds and she had no idea what came over him, she’d also been too anxious to ask out of fear of ruining the moment, but she’d never forgotten it.

“Gert, what’s wrong? You’re hardly eating.” Stacy says, her words snapping Gert from her mind fog. She blinks a few times and looks around the table before speaking.

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

They stare back, all except Molly who’s still eating. There isn’t a lot of kosher-based dishes that Molly likes but over the years she had chosen a select few and had soft spot for falafel. Molly’s biological parents died when she was really young in a house fire. Gert had only been a three year older than her when it happened and since both their parents were very close, Gert’s parents had taken it upon themselves to legally adopt her. She’d accepted her as her sister almost immediately.

Stacy would definitely make the next choice for where they eat be Molly’s.

“Maybe a little light-headed,” Gert admits, reaching for the glass of water in front of her. “How was the lecture?”

“Oh, it was amazing, I didn’t know what I was expecting but the students now are much more interactive and conscious now!” she says and Gert’s glad that the focus has shifted from her.

“Next time I’d love to bring you all,” she continues happily and then looks at Dale. “I mentioned some of our joint research and they’d love to have us.”

After that Molly starts talking about her upcoming science project and Gert tries to smile and look receptive.

…

She’s been stewing in the middle of her bed for an hour, completely awake but not moving when Old Lace makes her into her bedroom and onto the bed. Gert doesn’t make any attempts to move but lifts a hand to pet the scruffy fur on her head.

It’s Saturday meaning Chase would be here soon and she’s not looking forward to it.

Why did she plan to see him to see him today? It was too late to cancel and that would also be a kind of a shitty thing to do since he is actually struggling with his work.

Maybe she could call in and skype him on her laptop.

“Hey girl, you want to tutor Chase for me?” she asks her and sits up, scratching under her neck and collar in the way that always got a good reaction out of her.

…

“I thought you were Chase.” Gert sighs with relief when she opens the door later.

 Karolina shrugs and bounds towards her, putting an arm over her shoulder as they walk towards the kitchen.

“Why? Are you disappointed? I heard you jumped him yesterday.” Karolina says with a cheeky grin.

Gert moans but Karolina is persistent. “Chase Stein. I mean really, what were you thinking?

“I wasn’t thinking…at all.” Gert says but leans into her embrace. “I don’t want to talk about it either, so if you came here to chat about it or try and use one of your healing crystals to purify my soul or whatever then you can forget it.”

Karolina makes a face that Gert can’t see. “Fine, but you know Eiffel is going to come after you right? They may be broken up, but she’s obsessed with that boy.”

“I’m not scared of Eiffel.” Gert scoffs when they enter the kitchen, she looks over the fruit bowl and picks up a banana. Karolina sits on a stool in front of her and Gert senses that she’s not believing her, and she would be right, at least to a point. She knows that Eiffel is a vindictive bully, but she can deal with things she knows, uncertainty and guessing what people are thinking terrifies her. What if Eiffel was planning something this very minute? That girl could ruin someone’s life with one Instagram post… okay, maybe she’s a little bit scared of her but she has nothing to worry about because she’s not remotely interested in her ex-boyfriend.

“Okay,” Karolina says studying her for any signs of doubt, “but remember that we’ve got your back.”

They hang out for a little while until Karolina receives a text from her mother. It read I need you back at the house for church business. Whatever that meant.

When Gert opens the door for her to leave she comes face to face with Chase, she would have almost run into him if she had taken another step.

“Chase.”

He seems fine but then notices Karolina standing behind her. “Oh, is this a bad time?”

“No, no. I was just leaving,” Karolina looks between them, almost choking on the laughter threating to escape from her throat. “See ya later Gert.”

Karolina and Chase nod at one another and then she’s bounding down the steps, blonde ponytail swinging behind her.

She opens the door wider for him, so he can come inside, and he looks around a little bit. She expects him to start asking questions and it to be more awkward but it’s not.

Gert wanted to straighten this out before he got the wrong idea and she’s about to tell him that before her family step into the hall.

“Hey Chase,” Molly says coming down the stairs, greeting him happily and even slaps hands with him much to Gert’s confusion. She mouths it just the same to Molly who quirks an eyebrow at her.

“Chase Stein. Is that Chase Stein? Wow its, been years.” He says with a bright and genuine smile.

Chase smiles and reaches out to shake his hand up but becomes enveloped in a surprise hug, because Dale is a hugger. Gert almost feels bad about the awkwardness but then she remembers that she doesn’t even want him to be here and decides that she doesn’t care if her father is embarrassing her right now.

“I didn’t know you two were hanging out again.”

“We’re not. I’m tutoring him.” Gert points out, she reaches out and tugs on his arm lightly. This little reunion needed to end now. “Um, Dad Chase and I should probably get started so if you don’t mind.”

“Right, right well it was good seeing you again Chase.” He tells them, retreating into his study.

“You too, Dr Yorkes.”

Chase give hers a look that clearly says, ‘I knew he liked me’ but Gert ignores it.

“Kitchen.”

…

She hands back the worksheet she handed him yesterday and he looks over her corrections in silence. She noticed that he made a lot of common mistakes that means they must start looking at and perfecting those errors first. Gert is kind of grateful that he’s so clueless about Spanish because it gives her enough time in her head to come up with some sort of an explanation while he was sat next to her at the table.

He didn’t look like he was about to bring up, so should she?

She’d have to bring it up though. She did owe him an explanation.

“So about yesterday…” Gert laughs, high pitched and short.

“Oh yeah, yesterday. What was that about?” Chase stops writing and leans forward, suddenly forgetting about his work.

Gert bites her lip in hesitation and then says, “It was just some stupid joke but don’t worry it will not happen again.”

“Alright. Whatever you say,” he says but the corners of his lips twitch up.

He didn’t believe her.

Of course, he didn’t believe her and of course, he’s loving this, that kiss just fed right into his ego. Foreign languages didn’t come easily to him but everything else did. He’s used to girls fawning all over him; that happens when you’re a father is voted humanitarian of the year and you’re the star of the undefeated lacrosse team and look the way he does, and yes, she could begrudgingly admit to herself that he is very handsome, he had been since they were little.

However, if he knew that she just grabbed the person that was closest to her and not because she was trying to date him it would deflate his ego a little bit.

“It won’t happen again, Chase. I mean it.”

“Honestly, I am flattered,” He continues unfazed by her so-called brush off because he was brushing her off. He sounds so full of himself and it’s really starting to piss her off. “Eiffel and I only just broke and things are really weird…”

Was he seriously rejecting her? Hell no, she isn’t even interested in him.  

“I heard she dumped you for a college guy.” Gert fires back, not missing a beat.

His face falls, not expecting her to know or be aware of that piece of information. “She uh- it was mutual.”

“Right.” Gert says evenly, “I know that things changed, and you seem to think that you occupy a different space from everybody else, but the world doesn’t revolve around you. I don’t like you.”

“Says the person who kissed me.” Chase laughs.

“I’m not interested in you.”

“You might wanna tell your mouth that.”

“I only kissed you because I like someone else.” Gert blurts out, then promptly snaps her mouth shut. Chase’s grin is gone and the speed at which it leaves his face is enough to amuse her, but she does wish that she had kept her mouth shut about her crush.

“Oh,” Chase says, he picks his pen up but doesn’t start writing. “Well, who is it?”

Gert narrows her eyes. “If I tell you will you go back to conjugating those verbs?”

He laughs again. “Why don’t you tell me and we and find out?”

Against her better judgement, she opens her mouth, “Toby Sayers.”

“Wait. Isn’t that the loser who plays music in the courtyard at lunch every day?” Chase sounds disappointed

“Just because he’s not involved in organised sports doesn’t mean that he’s a loser.” Gert defends him because who did Chase think he was. She couldn’t believe that used to like him. “I…It’s just that whenever I’m around him I lose the ability to act like a functioning human being, so I kissed you to avoid him and made things infinitely worse.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“I missed hearing how your mind works.”

Gert releases a puff of air from her mouth. “Just finish those verbs.”

…

Her whole life Gert was used to not being the one that people noticed. It came second nature to her to just fade into the background when around her peers; no one ever really turned her way. Then middle school turned into high school and the only thing that had changed was that there were more people in the vicinity to ignore, which was fine, wanting to be noticed for no reason and being noticed for something were two different things.

Although, she was so accustomed to not being seen that it’s easily detectable today now that she’s on one. But she’s been avoiding Toby all day and despite that, they keep crossing paths.

This morning outside the school parking lot, his car had been just ahead of theirs and she hid behind Molly’s humongous backpack.

When she was walking to the science building with Alex, he had been showing her some code on his iPad and they bumped right into each other.  He tried to start a conversation, but she muttered an excuse, took Alex’s iPad and ran into the building.

The next time she sees him she’s walking out of the girls bathroom. Panicking, she ducks into a classroom with an open door and shuts it behind her.

Gert’s catching her breath when a throat clears behind her, she whips around to see Mr Rollins, who teaches computer science, tapping his foot on the floor. In front of him, all the seats are taken up by students who are staring blankly at her too.

She raises her hand weakly, deathly embarrassed that she’s just interrupted an entire class. “Hi.”

Alex receives his iPad back at the end of the day.

…

“What are you doing?” Chase asks later, and Gert jumps but settles down when she realises that it was just him.

“Sh!”

“Are you hiding?” he folds his lips when he notices that she’s using the lockers outside the gym to obscure herself.

Gert stands up when she deems the coast clear and turns to him. “Hey. What’s up.”

“Haven’t you told Sayers that you like him yet?”  

“Keep your voice down,” Gert says, even though she knows he’s gone. The hall was emptying out, but he wasn’t exactly being quiet as she would have liked him to be. She curls her short hair behind her ear and starts to walk away.

Chase watches her for second clearly debating with himself, then jogs to catch up with her. “What if you didn’t tell him?”

“What?”

“I’m just saying that what if…what if we let people think we’re actually together?” Chase mutters cautiously like he knows she would never go for something like this and he’s absolutely right. “And not just him but everyone.”

“Are you high?” Gert titters.

“We wouldn’t actually be together, and it would just for a little while.” He ignores her comment and continues.

“Oh my god, you’re serious.” She stops and studies his face no longer amused but shocked when she sees the sincerity in his features. “Why would that be a good idea?”

“Eiffel was so pissed when she found out that you kissed me,” Chase informs her, and he misses the unenthused glare she sends his way. How did anyone say this girl’s name and not question humanity? “If she thinks we’re a thing then she will definitely want to get back together.”

She taps her chin. “Oh, so you’re just using me as a pawn?”

“It could be good for you too if Sayers saw us together. It might give that guy the nerve to go for it.”

“He’s not like that. He wouldn’t date me because of some Neanderthalean jealously. I think that statement just set us back 50 years.” Gert crosses her arms over her chest defensively. Toby wouldn’t be interested in her because she was dating someone else. He didn’t seem like the jealous type. Although, she’d passed by him in the halls for years, chatted with him and thought she was being completely obvious with her interest in him and nothing had ever happened. 

“Do you even know the guy?” Chase asks, maybe he does know more about her with what guys think about but she’s not about to make it easy for him. “Guys are simple creatures. I think I know what I’m talking about.”

“Well, when you put it that way, I don’t think I could argue with you,” Gert says and leaves him standing there.

“You used me first. I was your human kissing shield!” Chase calls out.  “You don’t have to give me a response right away alright Just think about it.”

“Don’t hold your breath!”

…

Later that night she’s doing her homework when a message pops up in her inbox…from Toby.

“Holy shit.”

Chase was right.

…

With one goal in mind and her Doc Martens squelching in the mud and grass, Gert strides across the lacrosse field where the team is setting up for practice. There are more people outside than she expected, a whole group of students are out running laps along with the usual suspects who are always ditching first period and hiding under the bleachers.

“Hey, Stein!” Gert calls out and stops in the middle of the white paint markings in front of the goal post.

He turns around and takes his mask or helmet off, Gert’s not sure what to call it but he must need it for some kind of protection.

“Let’s do this.”

 He doesn’t say a word and takes her by the waist, making a big show of kissing her firmly on the mouth.

Gert shakes her head to clear the haze when he releases her, the surprise of the kiss and the warmth of his lips makes her mind go slightly cloudy.

“I’m going to class.” She says, and he nods.

They’d have to discuss this whole kissing thing later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back with another update, it's a longer one. i'm going back to uni on friday (i know weird day) so updates won't be frequent but i hope you enjoy!

“Alright, we need to set some ground rules,” Gert says firmly, she squints because the sun is especially bright now since she had gotten out of class and she pushes her glasses up her nose because of it.  Lacrosse practice was just finishing up when she had reached the outside area once again.

“Ground rules?” Chase questions and takes a sip from the plastic bottle he’s holding, the Atlas Academy and lacrosse insignia embossed on the centre.

He plops down in front of her on the opposite bench her at one of the picnic tables beside the track. His hair flops down on his forehead and he moves it out of his face.

“Yes, ground rules, boundaries because I don’t want to have a repeat of…that,” Gert says, waving her hands about for emphasis at the end of her sentence.  He’s staring at her now and resists the urge to squirm under his gaze, so she busies herself with collecting a notebook from her backpack.

“What?”

“You’ve done this before, right?” Chase questions, caution in his voice. It’s been such a long time since they hung out just the two of them and he’s realising that Gert has a tendency to close up. He doesn’t want to scare her off.  “Dated and had a boyfriend?”

Gert makes a face and swallows, “Define dated.”

“Oh my god.”

“You’re being a tad dramatic.” 

“No one is going to believe that we’re in a relationship if we don’t touch each other.” He says, a bit more tactfully and she rolls her eyes, so she doesn’t have to reply.

Suddenly shy, she places her hands in front of her, palms down on the table. “I don’t have a lot of…experience when it comes to situations like this.”

She wishes that he’d wouldn’t make a big deal out of this but by his reaction, Gert can see how what she had revealed had him worried. It would be hard to convince everyone that they were together, it was coming out of nowhere, but they couldn’t turn back now they both had when they both had a stake in this fake relationship. Furthermore, people their age put too heavy a focus on more amorous relationships, just because you didn’t have a significant other didn’t mean that you weren’t loved. Romantic relationships were only so highlighted to sell everything, from movies to chocolate.

“Dating is so heteronormative.” Gert pushes on, lifting her head. “If this is going to work then we need to be on the same page about things and I’m not budging on this.”

“Fine, whatever you’re comfortable with,” Chase agrees, much more easily than she thought he would and it’s a relief until he mentions, “but we need to compromise on something because people will get suspicious.”

He did have a point there. “Fine, you can put your hand in my back pocket.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s from Sixteen Candles. The opening scene.” She tells him, but he just shakes his head looking puzzled. “It’s a couple’s thing.”

“Huh, I would have never pegged you for the romantic comedy type,” Chase says disbelievingly.

“Oh no,” She laughs drawn out while she writes, “That’s not me. Molly was really into 80s movies a summer ago. Made me watch a few with her. I like old movies. Well, older movies. Anything you want to add?”

“You have to come to all of my lacrosse games and parties.” He says, and she jots that down begrudgingly. There went her silent protest, but this wasn’t going to work if they weren’t keeping a high profile. She hoped that she could handle that aspect.

“Okay, well you have to come to help me out at CATH downtown.”

“Who?”

“CATH. It’s the community centre downtown,” she explains quickly, not surprised that he hasn’t heard of it. A community centre didn’t fit in with his whole jock image.  “I help out there a few days a week.”

He shrugs and doesn’t look too enthused about it but agrees to that as well. Gert finishes the contract, oddly proud that they were able to come to a list of terms without of much of a fight. She signs her name at the bottom of the paper and passes it over to him.

He looks over the rules they’ve come up with. “Any idea how long we’re going to keep this going for?”

“I guess until we get what we want. Toby sent me a friend request last night.”

“Oh.” Chase sighs and gives her a funny look. “Okay, and if that doesn’t work then you have to come to the lacrosse tournament coming up at the end of the semester.”

The lacrosse tournament happened every year before Christmas break, up in a woodland lodge. It was encouraged that students should attend to encourage school spirit.

“Any none lacrosse related activities?” She laughs.

“Just call it a contingency. No one would let their boyfriend go to that alone.”

“Alright and absolutely no can find out about this arrangement okay,” she says, and he nods to himself while he signs his name. “It would completely destroy our reputations.”

“Aw, you care about my rep?” he teases and looks up from the notebook.

Gert reaches out towards him and pats his face. “You really are just a boy.”

…

Meet me in the parking lot before school.

That text message came in 20 minutes ago from Chase, but Gert hadn’t left the house yet. She hadn’t even got dressed for school but there was always something that she and Molly had to do every few weeks before they left for school.

She thought that it was great that her parents weren’t like everyone else, it made for a more interesting upbringing compared to the rest of her peers but collecting eggs in their backyard from the chickens was something she could do without. At least her sister was there to help her out, the hens were much more inclined to her.

“Hi, Britney, Albert, Sadie,” Molly greets them all one by one, remembering the names she had given each of them.

“Don’t’ be alarmed. We’ve come for the eggs,” Gert says, interrupting her ritual and she laughs, telling them that they came in peace. She hands her a basket and they start collecting

“Gert?”

They’re back to back to each other and she's focused on not dropping the eggs. The animals make noises and move around them but it’s quite peaceful, just the two of them.  “Hm?”

“Do you give yourself orgasms?”

“What?” She shrieks, jumping up at the bluntness of the question she manages to keep hold onto the basket but falls back a few steps into something soft and sticky and completely unpleasant.

She lifts her foot to inspect the damage, her jeans and half the bottom of her shoes is covered in muck. “Why would you ask me that?”

“I don’t know I was just curious and Stacy said that the oxytocin and natural endorphins produced from an orgasm-”

“Can you not say that, please?” Gert asks, being careful not to touch anything else. She definitely had to change her clothes.

“Is a good way to relive the pain from cramps.” Molly finishes and stands with her basket of eggs.

“Oh my God.” Gert squeezes her eyes shut. Chicken shit and orgasms?

This is how she starts the morning.

“What?”

She glances down at the floor. “I’m taking a shower before we leave.”

…

“Can you still smell the chicken shit on me?” Gert asks self-consciously, walking beside Molly across the parking lot. Ahead of them, Chase waves to get her attention.

Molly gives the area around her head an experimental sniff and Gert purses her lips in response. “I’d say you’re good.”

She breathes a sigh of relief and anxiously glances around for Chase. Eyes would be on her today, the anticipation of it is starting to play on her nerves. She takes her phone out of her pocket out of habit. Society may have branded their generation obsessed with smartphones but how was it any different from those that came before them with print. If anything, it just made more people aware of the world. However, with her anxiety sometimes her phone was the perfect security blanket.

Although, she did get into a fair share of Twitter arguments with anonymous trolls.

“You shouldn’t text and walk It’s really irresponsible.” She recognises his voice immediately.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard,” Gert says, finishing off the text and locking her phone before slipping it into her pocket. Chase leans against his Jeep, happy to see them.

“Hey, Molly. How’s the dance team?”

“Suffering.” Molly looks at him deadpan and Gert turns her way. Molly would sometimes complain about dance team, if a routine she had helped choreographed didn’t get approved or the recent choices in music, apparently Eiffel could use some more culture, but overall, she usually described it as an enjoyable experience. “Can you talk to Eiffel and tell her to stop being all dictator-ish.”

“Probably not. That’s over.” Chase says and puts an arm around Gert’s shoulders. “I’m her boyfriend now.”

“What? Since when?” Molly gasps, looking between them and then landing on her sister. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Gert tries to keep her face neutral before going on to speak. “It was just so sudden… I um we didn’t really have… we wanted to keep it to ourselves for a little while.”

She’s a terrible liar, hopefully, her eyes don’t betray her, but Molly seems to believe it. She gives her an excited grin and her and eyes her knowingly, making Gert remember that Molly had known all her about her old crush too. She hopes she won’t be too disappointed when they ‘break up’.

Molly doesn’t seem appeased, she hates being left out of the loop, so Gert promises that she’ll tell her everything later.

“I didn’t know we were going to be involving our families in this,” Gert hisses when Molly leaves. He drops his arm but still stands quite close.

“I assumed you told her. She was going to find out soon enough anyway,” Chase says truthfully and he’s right.

She has to remember the reason why they were doing this. “Right.”

He nods and reaches for her hand, lacing their fingers together. They make their way into the school, Chase stops to say hi to people he apparently knows, and Gert hopes her grimaces come across as smiles. They talk but she has no clue about what she should say and just ended up nodding along.

She doubts that she’ll ever let him know but she’s grateful that he keeps a hold of her hand the entire time, it’s warm and slightly rough but grounding.

“Hey, Gert!” Toby calls out to her, this time with a guitar case swung over his shoulder. She raises her hand halfway and gives him a half-hearted in response before he disappears into the building.

“Okay, totally taking back whatever, I said about this idea being stupid.” She mutters to Chase.

When they make inside Gert turns away from him, but Chase tugs lightly on her hand.

“Where are we going?” She asks him. “I have class soon.”

“Cafeteria.”

She makes a face.

“Because Eiffel is there,” Gert states with irritation about being ambushed like this. “Won’t that just piss her off?”

He smiles and tugs at her hand again. “Yeah, come on.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” She slows her pace beside him.

“We need to be seen together or else there’s no point to any of this.”

“Yes, but if I’m also found dead shortly after this then this,” she whispers the word dead and pulls him back. Oh, this was such a bad idea why did she agree to this? Eiffel was probably planning several versions of her death and all the ways she would make it look like an accident.

“Relax, okay. She’s not going to do anything.” Chase continues walking. “She’s not as evil as everyone says.”

He hears her make a sceptical sound at the back of her throat as he pushes the doors open and they walk in. Just as she predicted Eiffel is present, immediately pinning her with an icy stare when one of her friends from the dance team taps her on the shoulder and points the two of them out to her. Chase bypasses the table the girls are sitting and heads straight for the jock table.

He sits down at the edge of the bench and she sits down next to him.   “Hey, guys. You guys remember Gert, right?”

“Your Spanish tutor?” One of the guys cracks a smile, he’s blond with small features.

“Yeah, which means I’m sounding like less of an idiot in my target language these days,” Chase says and squeezes her hand under the table. She’s glad that he responded the way he did because at that moment she wasn’t sure of what to say or if she did talk she might have sounded ridiculous. She wasn’t exactly a people person. 

“Didn’t we have English together last year?”

“Um, I don’t really know.”

“No, I remember,” he continues and clicks his fingers when he does. Chase looks at him funny, so he goes onto explain. “She got into that sick fight last year with Mr Callan about the summer reading list. Apparently, he needed to expand his mind and stop perpetuating archaic and harmful narratives that cater to the male gaze.”

Chase turns his head and he nudges her playfully, the amusement is obvious on his face. “I don’t know, that sounds a lot like you.”

She laughs a little, feeling like a fraction of the pressure lifted off her shoulders. “Oh, that could have been anyone.”

They all stay there until the morning bell goes off and it’s time to go to first period. He places a hand on the small of her back and sweeps her along the room. She didn’t notice it previously, but they hadn’t just caught Eiffel’s attention, at this point everyone’s looking their way.

“Well that went horribly,” Gert mutters, carefully so none of the other students were leaving for class were able to hear her.

“No. Don’t worry you did fine, more than fine.” He reassures her, smoothing a hand down the arm of her denim jacket. “Want me to walk you to class?

“No, no that’s fine.” She says, detaching her hand. “I’ll see you in Spanish.”

…

“So?” Nico asks, her voice is quiet behind her.

Gert keeps her head down, her nose buried in her book. There aren’t any rules about speaking once the mid-morning announcements were done but they keep it to a whisper because Miss Montoya didn’t like the noise to get above a certain level.

“Yeah?”

“You and Chase?”

“Yep.”

Nico pauses.

“Your judgement radiating off you in waves,” Gert whispers.

“I didn’t say anything. Not a thing.” Nico grins even though she knows that Gert can’t see her and goes back to doodling in her notebook.

…

“Okay I’m ready,” Molly budges in between Karolina and Alex at their lunch to demand the truth a little later. “Tell me everything.”

“Well uh, we reconnected while tutoring and it just went from there,” Gert tells her as convincingly as she can.

“Wait, that’s it?” Alex asks, and Karolina nudges him, thinking that he might be being too harsh.

“What do you mean that’s it? What’s wrong with that?” Gert asks, looking around at the rest of them.

Molly pulls down her knitted hat over her forehead. “I just figured that there would be a little more to it. Where’s the romance?”

“This is high school. Romance is dead.” Alex says and then drinks from his water bottle.

“Hey, that’s not true,” Karolina argues and they all turn to her. “Not everyone thinks like that. Sometimes people can surprise you.”

…

“You promised you would help me as soon as you finished studying, Gert!” Molly shouts, her voice carries down the stairs as she follows Gert. Her sock covered feet slide on the hardwood floor when they both get to the bottom of the steps.

“I know what I said, but I didn’t know that it would involve this.” Gert knows it’s stupid to say that but it's not like she had a good excuse, to begin with. However, she’d do her best to avoid this.

“Gert, please. I have to get this routine down by the end of the weekend.” Molly pleads with big eyes when Gert spins around and she feels it in her, almost caving into Molly’s request. No, she wouldn’t, her resolve was much stronger than that. Furthermore, the potential of embarrassing herself was high.

“I don’t see why you need me. Wouldn’t it be easier to practise this routine by yourself…or with a mirror or something?”

Gert strides into the living room and plops down on top of the cushions on the couch and turns the television on.

“It’s not the same by myself. This part of the routine requires,” Molly grabs the remote, ignoring her sister’s groans about whatever she was watching. She turns down the volume, so Gert can only hear her. “It requires a partner and I need you. You’re the only other person in this house who can actually dance. You’re my sister.”

If she didn’t get this routine down and flawlessly then she nor the rest of the team never hear the end of it from Eiffel. Molly had been increasingly aware of the other girls' distaste for her lately since Chase and Gert had gotten together. She would find any excuse she could to kick her off the team.

“You can’t use that fact for everything,” Gert says, overlooking the compliment but it softens her nonetheless and she stands up. “Fine, but no one ever finds out about this.”

“We’re in the house. No one is even going to see you.”

For the next few minutes, Molly teaches Gert the part of the routine that she needs help on in the living room. They push the coffee table out of the way for more space for the elaborate moves they would be doing.  The two of them end up hanging out and being silly all afternoon, Molly even teaching her the entire routine and gives her a spare uniform to wear. If asked, Gert would flat out deny ever wearing the dance team’s uniform, she didn’t like that Molly was a part of it either, but no one would ever find out about this, so she’d indulge just this once.

She’s messing around with the footwork in the middle of the patchwork rug while Molly lazes on the couch while listening to the mix she made. Molly had created several mixes, even before she started dancing for the school but none of them had reached a wider audience.

The doorbell ringing jolts them out of their activities and without thinking Gert goes to answer the door. One of her parents was probably expecting a package but her eyes widen in shock when she takes in the sight of Chase instead of a delivery man.

“Nice outfit.” Chase compliments, looking up from his phone to smile down at what she’s wearing. “I did prefer your usual style though.”

Gert realises that she’s still in the dance team uniform and drags him by the front of his shirt into the house.

“What’re you doing here?” Gert rests her back on the door’s stained-glass window. Chase straightens out the wrinkles in his shirt and stands opposite her.

He puts his phone into his pocket and gives her a disappointed look like she’s supposed to know why he’s here. “There’s a party at Nate’s house.”

“And?”

“We’re supposed to be going remember.”

“You can go but I’m not,” Gert says and she’s about to breeze past him, but Old Lace runs into Chase’s feet.

“Hey Old Lace,” he remembers the name and that takes her off guard but when he reaches down to pet her she starts barking like crazy.

“Whoa!”

At least Old Lace was on her side.

He backs away and she covers her mouth with her hand. He inches away from the dog and gives her a betrayed look. The dog goes to stand at her feet. 

“We’re going together,” Chase says and lowers his voice. “We both signed the contract, so we have to follow the rules and Eiffel is going to be there.”

“Great, maybe we can finally share beauty tips,” Gert says with forced enthusiasm. “I’ve been wondering how to get colour treated hair so shiny. She probably sacrifices a freshman every homecoming night and drinks their blood.”

She walks past him into the kitchen and he follows close behind. Old Lace stops barking at him but seems to be sizing him up from a distance.

Gert takes a bottled water out of the fridge and he shakes his head, laughing but undeterred. “We made a deal. You can’t back out now.”

“Chase. Two visits in such a short space of time?” Dale approaches with Molly.  The fact that they’re all so chummy is making it harder to hate him right now.

“Good to see you again, Dr Yorkes.”

“You can call me Dale, please.” He says, waving off the titles. “You two hanging out again?”

“Yes, we’re going to a party. The parents will be home, and I will have her home early. Is it alright if we go?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“No!” Gert blurts out too quickly and everyone looks at her. “I can't go. I am helping Molly with her dance routine.” She tugs at the material of the sweatshirt to show off the school logo.

“No, you’re not.” Molly pipes up, clearly happy at the recent developments. “I have it all down. You’re free as a bird.”

This was the last time she’d help Molly.

“See. Why don't you go have fun with your friend Chase?” he widens his eyes and drops his head.

“Come on Dad I-” Her words stop when he puts an arm around her back and is pushing her out of the room and towards the stairs, so she could get changed.

“Gert you’ve been stuck in the house all day. Go have fun!”

…

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” She says. They’re walking up the path to Nate Rothwell’s house, well it’s not just a house. If someone asked her Gert would describe it as more of a lavish mansion, nestled up with all the others in the Hollywood hills that you only saw in the movies or those overhyped teen dramas that Molly has clogging up the DVR.   

“Gert.”

“But-” Chase takes her hold of her hand and pulls her along.

“Nope. We’re going contract rules.” He pushes open the door after that and they’re inside. Hit with the sounds of loud, dance music spilling into the foyer.

She takes a deep breath and bites her lip.

“Hey,” he places his hands on her shoulders and dips his head to look into her eyes.  His thumbs rub soft, soothing circles into her and she’s not sure he whether he realises he’s doing it and she hopes he doesn’t stop. “I’ll be here the whole time. We’re a team remember.”

She nods. “Yeah.”

With their hands locked Chase moves his way through the crowd, greeting and saying hi to people just like he did at school. With the way he works through the crowd it looks more like he’s networking at an event or this was his party and all these people were here to see him. The room is modernist with sleek, long couches that look like they should be in a nightclub and polished glass walls that let make the pool outside visible to everyone. There were some swimming outside too. 

It’s packed with kids from Atlas but there are some people here she doesn’t recognise at all. Nate Rothwell stands off to the side playing pool with a group of boys from the lacrosse team. He doesn’t play lacrosse, but his parents donate a small fortune to the school every year, a lot of which goes to all the sports programmes.  He was pretty much considered an honorary member.

He and Chase say hello and pat each other on the back but he hasn’t let go of her hand the whole time.

“You want something to drink.” He says when he turns back to her.

“Yeah, sure,” Gert answers distractedly. “A soda.”

“Two seconds.”

She nods. “Okay.”

He disappears through the sea of people and Gert goes to stand by the wall by the stairs. She doesn’t have   These people are really more Chase’s friends than hers anyway. She pulls out her phone and wonders if anyone is online. Alex is free but most likely serving on the front lines on Battlefront.  Karolina and Nico would be hanging out together. So, Nico has Karolina, and everyone knows that Alex is hopelessly into Amy, Nico’s older sister. She’s a grade above them but always hangs out and when she’s not busy.

Gert would never say anything because no one needs one another to make them a whole person but she’s kind of jealous of what they have. Karolina and Nico had always just got each other, even when they were young, and Gert does wonder what that’s like. In the past, it used to be easier but being diagnosed with anxiety meant that sometimes her thoughts get jumbled up in her head and she’s swathed in self-doubt more often than not. If there was a person out there that wasn’t annoyed by her then that would be a miracle.

“Hey, Gertrude. Surprised to see you here,” Sarah Briggs is at her side now along with Eiffel but there’s still no Chase.

“Hey, Sarah.” Gert puts her phone down and hopes this is just a quick hello-goodbye situation, but Sarah starts making conversation.

“So, you and Chase Stein,” she states all smiles, but her eyes don’t agree. Which doesn’t surprise her at all being that she’s Eiffel’s best friend? Sarah curls her jet, black hair around her ear. “I would have never guessed that you two would become an item.”

“Yeah, well stranger things have happened,” Gert responds but then second guesses herself. Maybe she should have said something more lovey-dovey.

She doesn’t seem to notice thought and keeps asking her questions about them and Gert starts to panic.

“Parties are your thing now too?” Eiffel comments, pouting and not sounding sympathetic in any way. “Too bad you decided to wear that.”

Eiffel doesn’t say anything, only looks her up and down. In her haste, she had thrown on a black and white patterned skater dress, maroon boots and a baggy denim jacket. It was cute but comfortable. However, now she wishes that she could disappear.

Gert folds her lips into her mouth, “Uh huh, not everyone holds coordinating nails with shoes in such high regard some of us devote our time to things that actually matter.” 

“So how far have you and Chase gone?” Sarah asks shamelessly.

“I uh,” Gert freezes.

“Oh, S I wouldn’t bother,” Eiffel taps her friend on the shoulder and laughs, light and airy and acting like she doesn’t care. But she must care if she’s getting her friend to do her dirty work and find out about them. “It’s not like they’ve done anything worth mentioning.”

She’s right though. They haven’t done anything except those two surprise kisses and hold hands.

“How would you know?”

But then Chase’s arm wraps around her middle and his presses his face into her cheek.  He has the two drinks he said he would get in hand by his side.

“Hey, babe. What’s up?”

Eiffel scrunches her face up as if there’s a bad smell in the air and stalks off, Sarah trapeses behind her.

“The line was really long sorry,” Chase apologises.

She shakes her head, telling him that she doesn’t mind and takes a sip from the cup.  Gert takes the drink from the cup and he leads her along to one of the empty couches but before she can sit down he pulls her into his lap at the last minute.

“Chase!” Gert squeals, holding onto the plastic cup with both hands, the liquid sloshes inside but she manages to keep it from getting all over themselves or the floor. She twists around, mouth agape. “What if you dropped me?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve always been good with my hands.”

“You were not always this cocky,” Gert recalls, and he opens his mouth to say something further, but she quickly shushes him by putting her a hand over his mouth. He was obviously going to say something inappropriate. “No.”

She feels him pout behind her mouth and he gives her sad eyes but he still manages to look playful enough for her to start giggling. She drops her hand into her lap and sits comfortably against him, her side pressed into his chest.

“Hey, take a selfie,” Chase takes his phone out and moves in closer.

“I wasn’t ready. Delete that.”

Chase looks at the screen when he pulled the phone back, disagreeing. “Nah, you look pretty.”

“At least let me take another one,” Gert says taking his phone out of his hand. “Your photography skills need a little work.”

“Oh really?”

Gert holds up the phone and smiles when she finds a good angle. She’s about to take the picture when she notices Eiffel staring at the two of them from across the room.

She presses a kiss onto his cheek before her finger hits the button.

…

“You did well tonight. Eiffel was so pissed.” Chase tells her later that night. They left the party a while ago, but he still wanted to hang out and Gert found herself wanting to as well. They ended up at the Juice Shop because it was, later on, they were a few of the only people here.

It was some kiwi-watermelon-lime concoction for him and a pear-celery juice for her. The menu was very expansive, but Gert guessed that was one of the side effects of residing in Los Angeles. They shared a bowl of fries. She had split them down the middle, so it would be fair, but he wouldn’t keep to his side and kept sneaking extras.

“Aren’t you glad you got out tonight?”

“Yes, it’s been extremely insightful,” Gert replies and folds her arms as she watches him from across the booth.

He stops mid-chew. “Insightful? How?”

“I think you talk about Eiffel more than Eiffel talks about Eiffel,” Gert says, pushing her glasses up her nose. “Which is really saying something when you think about it.”

“What? No, that’s-” Chase scoffs, offence colouring his features.

“Totally true.” Gert laughs, but she stops herself as he splutters for an excuse. “We’ve – You have been talking about her for the past five minutes. It’s not healthy.”

“So, you’re a psychologist now?” Chase questions and picks up the plastic cup and starts drinking.

“It’s just an observation,” Gert says, glancing at his phone. Since they had left the party his notifications had been blowing up. It was obvious who the messages were from. “You two obviously still talk.”

“I don’t need to talk to her all the time.”

“Oh really?” Gert leans forward over the table.  “Prove it.”

“Fine. I won’t call her tonight.” Chase picks up his phone and holding it in mid-air.

“Oh, a full 12 hours. I hope you can stand it.” Gert teases when he puts the phone down and reaches for some more fries. 

“Nuh uh no fries for you,” Faking a laugh Chase pulls the bowl to his side so she can’t get to them. She glares at him, but he’s not put off at all. “What about you?”

She had an endless string of unrequited crushes that she never pursued and was now fake dating one of her estranged-friend ex-crush. If Chase was seriously asking her about her love life (certainly lack thereof) then he was either being really sweet or completely oblivious.

“That’s because no one has ever been interested,” Gert answers, trying to keep the base in her voice.

“Okay now whose being delusional.”

“I’m not being delusional. It’s the truth.” Gert can’t help the sudden defensiveness flooding her tone, because he’s wrong about this and that’s one thing Gert can be absolutely sure of.  “I don’t get asked out, I’m not anyone’s secret crush or ever picked for anything. The last party I went to was Seth Goldman’s Bar Mitzvah and I’m pretty sure I was only invited because my dad talked to his mom.” She looks at him then, “No matter where you go, or what you do, people see you. When someone like me walks through a door, no one really turns my way. It’s easier for me to just keep everyone at a distance.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Chase tells her but she’s now fussing with her hands and avoiding eye contact. “I mean you did it with me just now.”

“Well, that doesn’t count ‘cuz none of this is real anyway,” Gert says shrugging, finally locking eyes with him again.

He stares at her, with an unreadable expression on his face and opens his mouth to speak but seems to think better of himself. “Oh right. Yeah.”

Chase slides out of the booth and pulls his wallet out of his pocket.

“Chase, are you okay?”

“Yeah. We should get you home. I promised your dad we wouldn’t be too late.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first work for this pairing. i absolutely love gert and chase and all the runaways.
> 
> [ my tumblr < /a >](%E2%80%9Djapril12.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)


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